Chemtura Holds Nantong Groundbreaking Ceremony for New, Multipurpose Manufacturing Site to Support Growth Strategy in China &...

Chemtura Corporation (NYSE: CHMT), a leading global specialty chemicals company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, today held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new, multipurpose manufacturing facility in the Nantong Economic and Technological Development Area to support Chemtura’s growth strategy in China and the greater Asia-Pacific region.

Craig Rogerson, third from left, president, chairman and CEO of Chemtura Corporation (NYSE: CHMT), and Qiang Qiang, fourth from left, director of the Nantong Economic and Technological Development Area (NETDA) in Nantong, China, lead the groundbreaking ceremonies March 6, 2012 on a new, multipurpose manufacturing facility in Nantong to support Chemtura's growth strategy in China and the greater Asia-Pacific region. From left are Stephen Forsyth, Chemtura executive vice president and CFO; Chet Cross, Chemtura executive vice president and president, Performance & Engineered Industrial Products; Rogerson; Qiang; Mme. Yan Xian, NETDA deputy director; and Chen Qiang, NETDA deputy director. (Photo: Business Wire)

The Nantong facility, Jiangsu Province, first announced in June 2011, will be operational within the next two years with four production units supporting Chemtura’s Industrial Performance Products segment’s Petroleum Additives and Urethanes businesses, with the first production unit expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2013. There also are plans to manufacture additional products in future phases.

As previously disclosed, Chemtura’s goal, among other initiatives, is to create value for customers and other stakeholders by improving support of its business growth with increased manufacturing capacity in rapidly growing regions. This facility will be Chemtura’s largest single investment since its formation in 2005 and the centerpiece site for manufacturing in Asia-Pacific, and specifically in China. The investment is being made over a three-year period.

“This project is a huge step forward and a statement to our customers and investors that we are truly committed to our growth strategy in the world’s fast growing regions. We are going to make a broad array of our leading-edge products at Nantong in order to be closer to our customers, to shorten the timeframe for new product development and commercialization in the region, as well as to shorten the supply chain for these growing markets,” said Craig A. Rogerson, Chemtura’s chairman, president, and chief executive officer.

The state-of-the-art Nantong facility will include production lines, administrative and maintenance buildings, utilities, a centralized control room, and quality control labs. This planned investment will support the growth of our Industrial Performance Products segment’s Petroleum Additives and Urethanes businesses. The following describes the products that will come online during the first two years of development, with further expansion planned over the remainder of the three-year project period.

The Petroleum Additives business requires local manufacturing and storage capabilities for some of its product lines in order to meet customer demand. These include synthetic finished fluids (refrigeration lubricants, air compressor lubricants and gear oils), and calcium sulfonate grease. Local manufacturing capacity for synthetic lubricants is required for the business to respond to the market’s demand for shorter lead times. Installation of grease capacity in China will provide Chemtura’s customers with a more secure global supply capability, and will place capacity in the region with the highest growth rate.
Growth in the Urethanes business, including its low-free (LF) prepolymer urethanes, is driven by the commercialization of Chemtura’s high-performance, greener Adiprene® Duracast™ product line coupled with increasing global and regional demand for its LF products. Additional LF prepolymer manufacturing capacity in China will allow Chemtura to continue to grow its most advanced product lines and places capacity in a region with strong demand growth, while preserving existing capacity elsewhere to continue supplying customers in other regions.

In addition to the planned development of local manufacturing capacity, Chemtura plans to continue to build global scale through investing in sales representation, technical development centers, joint ventures and bolt-on acquisitions, further empowering its regional teams to serve their growing customer base with robust service functions and technical support capabilities.

Chemtura Corporation, with 2011 sales of $3 billion, is a global manufacturer and marketer of specialty chemicals, agrochemicals and pool, spa and home care products. Additional information concerning Chemtura is available at www.chemtura.com.

Forward-looking statements:

This document includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21(e) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are identified by terms and phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “continue,” “should,” “could,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “will” and similar expressions and include references to assumptions and relate to our future prospects, developments and business strategies.

Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

The cyclical nature of the global chemicals industry;
Increases in the price of raw materials or energy and our ability to recover cost increases through increased selling prices for our products;
Disruptions in the availability of raw materials or energy;
Our ability to implement our growth strategies in emerging markets;
Our ability to obtain the requisite regulatory and other approvals to implement the plan to build a new multi-purpose manufacturing facility in Nantong, China;
Declines in general economic conditions;
The effects of competition;
The ability to comply with product registration requirements under European Union REACh legislation;
The effect of adverse weather conditions;
The ability to grow profitability in our Chemtura AgroSolutions segment;
Demand for Chemtura AgroSolutions segment products being affected by governmental policies;
Current and future litigation, governmental investigations, prosecutions and administrative claims;
Environmental, health and safety regulation matters;
Federal regulations aimed at increasing security at certain chemical production plants;
Significant international operations and interests;
Our ability to maintain adequate internal controls over financial reporting;
Exchange rate and other currency risks;
Our dependence upon a trained, dedicated sales force;
Operating risks at our production facilities;
Our ability to protect our patents or other intellectual property rights;
Whether our patents may provide full protection against competing manufacturers;
Our ability to remain technologically innovative and to offer improved products and services in a cost-effective manner;
The risks to our joint venture investments resulting from lack of sole decision making authority;
Our unfunded and underfunded defined benefit pension plans and post-retirement welfare benefit plans;
Risks associated with possible climate change legislation, regulation and international accords;
The ability to support the carrying value of the goodwill and long-lived assets related to our businesses; and
Other risks and uncertainties detailed in Item 1A. Risk Factors in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

These statements are based on our estimates and assumptions and on currently available information. Our forward-looking statements include information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations, and our actual results may differ significantly from the results discussed. Forward-looking information is intended to reflect opinions as of the date this press release was issued. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statements to conform the statements to actual results or changes in our operations.

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